1987 Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas

How much car do you really want? Not how much car you need. but how much do you *want*? Because this right here. let me tell you. is a lot of car.

Full leather interior. Wool floor mats. Stained and varnished walnut trim. Chrome ash trays. Metallic paint. Four round headlights. 4. 2L twin cam straight six engine. Inboard rear brakes. It has two fuel tanks and six shocks. for goodness sake. This was the last year of the Series III XJ6. fundamentally the same car that was rolling out of Coventry in the 60's. A denser. more luxurious slice of vintage European motoring could hardly be found in this day and age.

Now of course. this all comes at a price: mainly. these cars have never been famous for their reliability. I can attest to this. I recovered this car from storage and have spent the past year making it roadworthy. It was a long arduous journey. filled with new fiddles and troubles just as things seemed fixed. I did the following work to the car (at least):

-New fuel pump and filter
-16" wheels from a later model Jag w/good tires
-Full driveline lubrication. including the 10. 5 quart oil change
-Re-sealed water manifold on intake side
-New spark plugs and ignition coil
-New rear calipers. disks. and pads. a $1200+ repair at any specialist shop (the entire rear suspension must be removed as a unit to replace the brakes)
-Coolant flush and re-fill
-Misc. hoses. etc.
-Misc. electrical repairs

All this being said. the car is very nice to drive and in wonderful cosmetic condition. However. I have to draw the line somewhere. and I've reached that line. Here are the little fiddles that are left. an eternal state when you're talking about a European luxury car.

-Mild twitch in the steering. either a front tire imbalance or minor wear in a tie rod end
-Imperfect idle. Still goes like a scalded moose. but idles in a way that will annoy mechanical perfectionists
-Two rust bubbles. one at the bottom of the front windscreen and one at the bottom of the rear
-Two or three burns in the clear coat. This car has been repainted. but I can't say when
-Left hand rear bumper cover has a tear in the rubber
-Fuel gauge does not read for either tank. although the tank selector switch operates normally
-Speedometer occasionally reads nothing or reads erratically
-Some small exhaust ticks from the manifold and down pipe areas
-Factory radio is dead
-Air conditioning operates poorly at idle. but fine at speed. Still an R12 system.

But there's so much good too! It's incredibly comfortable. I have a full set of original keys. all the original owners manuals and cards. The seats are in amazing shape for their age. with only a couple spots with pulled stitches. The wood veneers still have their lacquer. the map lights work. it's remarkably gremlin-free.

But it's a complicated car. If you are not confident in your mechanical abilities. I recommend having a trusted shop or mechanic inspect the car. This is not a Honda Accord. nor would someone looking for an Accord stumble on this ad.

The car has a clean NC title and is located in Durham. NC. It can be viewed most weekday afternoons after 5. or mostly anytime during the weekend. Feel free to ask any questions. I'm happy to help you decided if you're crazy enough to own and drive this car. Thank for looking. cheers!

Also published at eBay.com

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